Random Access

How do you convince Mississauga residents of the value of a precious environmental resource that they can’t see?
That’s the dilemma created by the Creditview Wetlands – the amazing natural phenomenon located in the Sherwood Mills subdivision north of Eglinton Ave. and east of Creditview Rd.
You remember the convoluted story of the public acquisition of the place: It was all set to be developed for a subdivision in 1987 when academics from UTM took a look at plant samples, and realized that the wetland was a remnant from the Ice Age.
What followed was a prolonged battle by environmentalists, led by botanist Jocelyn Webber, to convince City council that the place was worth saving and then to convince the provincial government to contribute to its purchase.
The developers claimed it was a man-made wetland only a decade old, which would be a breeding ground for encephalitis-bearing mosquitoes.
By the time Webber finished her research, it had gone from a class 7 wetland to class 2. There are only two of those in Ontario. Mississauga avoided a nasty OMB battle when it negotiated a deal to buy the property for $3 million plus in 1998.
The reason that no one knew about this sparkling jewel was that it was surrounded with heavy growth that created a visual barrier. It was only when you entered by canoe that the wonders of the hummocks, peat bog and the fantastic ferns became evident. Asked how such a treasure could go undiscovered for so long, Webber once said, “simply because no one knew it was there.”
You could argue that things haven’t changed much, at least for the general population. Even people who live a stone’s throw from the wetland, which is home to innumerable rare plants, trees, amphibians and unique birds for this area, don’t realize it’s there.
To protect the area, the subdivision built around it was reconfigured to try to provide a buffer of parkland and school yards up against it. Despite dire predictions that it would dry up in a few years, this natural marvel — totally reliant on surface drainage— continues to astound the oddsmakers.
Of course, it has a lot of help from its growing legion of friends, chief among them Fallingbrook Public School teacher Gary Mascola. He has energized its protection by engaging his students in active stewardship, with the assistance of the City, the Credit Valley Conservation and groups such as Eco-Action, which is helping to provide funding for much-needed buffer plantings that ensure pesticides from surrounding homes don’t do damage.
On one of two recent planting days, when students put in another whack of saplings and shrubs, they concentrated their efforts in a corner of the wetland which is finally going to give us a window into its wonders. A $100,000 project developed through a City master plan prepared for the wetland in 2003 is providing an elevated observation area. There the public may finally get to see at least a glimpse of what the fuss is all about. The photo above shows what the view looks like from there now.
Michael Gusche, project coordinator for the City’s community services department, seems like the perfect guy to oversee the job. He’s a reformed engineer, one of those guys who a generation ago probably would have plowed the wetland under without a second thought. “I was really troubled by all the hard engineering work I was doing,” he says in explaining his conversion. “Now I’m able to apply these skills to the environmental side.”
The elevated observation area includes a mini-arboretum of off-beat tree species such as shagbark hickory. There will eventually be three interpretative panels as well.
It’s not exactly a picture window at the moment. “The arborists are going to come and take a careful look at the forest wall and see if they can selectively prune and trim out some of the area so we can open up the vistas,” he says.
Maybe then we can catch a glimpse of an American black duck or a green-winged teal.
Grade 7 student Pooja Salooja went to Sherwood Mills school and didn’t even know the wetland was on its doorstep until students found a turtle on the playground one day.
Now, the member of the Down 2 Earth environmental club at Fallingbrook can rhyme off the names of all the rare plant species (Black Chokeberry, American Larch, Highbush Cranberry, late Lowbrush Blueberry, Virgina Chain Fern and Velvetleaf Blueberry.)
Asked to diverge from her script to explain what she thinks it will take to keep the wetland alive, Salooja says thoughtfully, “we need to get everyone involved to show them they are partners in this. It should be good if everyone takes care of it.”
To amend an old aphorism, when God closes a development door, he opens a little window on paradise.